US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Washington has not yet made a final decision on its continued participation in the Open Skies Treaty (DON). He said this at a meeting with military personnel at the Air Force base in Nebraska.
“No formal, final decision has yet been made. When the time is right, we will hold meetings and determine the best option for further actions for our country, ”said Esper.
The head of the Pentagon emphasized that Washington and its NATO allies “need to start calling Russia to account for non-compliance,” DON. According to him, Russia allegedly “has not complied with this agreement for many years, in particular, restricting flights over and near the territory of Kaliningrad and Georgia.”
“We cannot continue to put up with non-compliance with the agreement by Russia at the same time as it provides for the possibility of such flights. So we need to start with the issue of non-compliance by Russia with the terms of the agreement and ensure that it returns to compliance with them, ”said Esper.
In both cases, listed by the head of the Pentagon, Russia really limited flights. However, in both cases there were good reasons.
According to the materials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, US officers were denied flights in 10-km zones “adjacent to two sections of the border with South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” because Tbilisi, in turn, did not want to accept Russian missions over its territory.
Commenting on the situation with the inspection of the Kaliningrad region, the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that the restrictions were adopted within the framework of the Don, which allows the state party to additionally allocate open-air airports and set a maximum range for observation aircraft.
The concept of "open sky"
The Open Skies Treaty was signed on March 24, 1992 in Helsinki. Its first participants were more than 20 countries - members of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (since 1995 - the OSCE), including Russia, the USA, Canada and leading European countries. Today, the agreement is signed by 34 states. The Russian Federation ratified the document on January 1, 2002.
- Russian and Western troops agree on a flight plan
- © Ministry of Defense of Russia
The treaty introduced the practice of international observation flights with the aim of inspecting military infrastructure. The agreement establishes certain quotas and inspection rules. For example, the USA and a group consisting of Russia and Belarus got the opportunity to fly 42 flights a year, Canada, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Turkey and Ukraine - 12 flights each.
Inspections are carried out by airplanes, which can be equipped with several types of observational equipment: optical panoramic and frame cameras, video cameras with a real-time and real-time image on the display, infrared linear scanning devices and side-view radar stations. Flights are made on the Tu-214ON, An-30, Tu-154M-Lk-1, Boeing OC-135B Open Skies, C-13OJ and twin-engine Saab 340.
The choice of aircraft, object of inspection and flight route are agreed in advance with the receiving party. A notice of desire to conduct an observation flight is sent at least 72 hours before the estimated time of arrival.
According to the agreement, a DON participant may refuse to conduct foreign inspectors in the event of a disagreement over the mission plan. Moreover, if the state decided to withdraw from the contract, it is obliged to notify other countries of its intention no later than six months before the date of the alleged denunciation.
It is noteworthy that the United States themselves initiated the conclusion of the DON. The 34th US President Dwight Eisenhower back in the 1950s is considered to be the author of the concept of “open skies”. However, negotiations to conclude an appropriate treaty were terminated after the U-2 U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted by Soviet air defense systems over the Urals.
The idea of "open skies" returned to the agenda in the late 1980s, when the United States and the USSR decided to put an end to the Cold War. The initiator of the negotiations, which lasted for two years, was the 41st President of the United States, George W. Bush.
“Security issue”
In recent years, there have been persistent calls in the United States to stop fulfilling DON under the pretext that Moscow allegedly violates the terms of the agreement, limiting the possibility of flying over certain territories.
Russia puts forward counterclaims. So, in September 2017, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Washington was trying to limit the flights of Russian officers over American territory. In particular, Washington forbade the crews of domestic aircraft to sleep at air bases in Georgia and South Dakota. In this regard, pilots are forced to carry out longer flights. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the US is violating the provisions of the DON governing the norms of "maximum crew loads, which is a matter of flight safety." Also, Americans impede the flight of Russians over the Aleutian Islands and Hawaii.
“In response, the Russian side established the need to coordinate overnight stays at three refueling aerodromes, and also announced the termination of a number of bilateral technical agreements and unilateral measures that were applied in good faith and facilitated earlier US missions over Russia,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
A year later, Washington, without giving any reason, refused to allow the Tu-214ON domestic aircraft to fly on observation flights. Commenting on US behavior, the head of the National Center for Reducing Nuclear Hazard, Sergei Ryzhkov, said that “the Americans cannot accept the fact that Russia, having created a modern Tu-214ON surveillance aircraft and equipped it with Russian-made digital equipment, is 5-7 years ahead of USA".
In August 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a military budget that limited funding for the work of the Open Skies Advisory Commission.
However, the United States continues to be a member of DON. So, from January 27 to February 1, 2020, the joint mission of Canada and the USA completed an observation flight over the Russian Federation. Another inspection of American officers took place from February 10 to 14.
“There is no certainty”
In December 2019, at a meeting of the board of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “there is no certainty on the part of the United States on the future of the START Treaty and the Open Skies Treaty.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry does not exclude that Washington may leave the Don.
“If the US withdraws from the Treaty, a very fragile balance of interests of its participants will be violated. As a result, not only DON will suffer, but the whole architecture of European security, ”the ministry said.
In an interview with RT, military expert Vladimir Mukhin noted that the Open Skies Treaty is of great importance for enhancing security in the Euro-Atlantic region. The document allows specialists from Russia, Ukraine and NATO member countries to clarify the nature of each other's military activities, as well as verify compliance with existing arms agreements.
“Observation flights help in more detail than from satellites to look at military facilities. DON gives very large privileges to inspectors. And the principles of transparency, spelled out in the agreement, are designed to reduce mutual distrust. What the Americans are doing means the actual closure of military facilities for inspection by the Russian Federation, ”Mukhin stated.
The expert described US behavior as an “aggressive step” that aggravates the already tense situation in relations with Russia.
“All disputed issues within the framework of the Don can be discussed and resolved if the United States has a good will to maintain this agreement. In my opinion, the claims of the Americans are far-fetched. They behave in much the same way as with the INF Treaty. If they need to go out somewhere, they are looking for a convenient excuse for this, ”Mukhin explained.
A similar point of view is shared by the head of the Center for Military Diplomatic Analysis and Assessments of the League of Military Diplomats Vladimir Vinokurov. In a RT commentary, he said that the United States created many obstacles to the implementation of the Open Skies Treaty.
“The Open Skies Treaty allows for operational monitoring of compliance with all arms agreements, including START III, whose fate is in the balance. All violations are clearly visible from observation aircraft. If the US withdraws from the Don, then this most important control mechanism will be lost, ”says Vinokurov.
- The work of operators of surveillance equipment
- © Ministry of Defense of Russia
The expert explains the American behavior by the Trump administration’s desire to “rid the United States of its international obligations as much as possible,” which, according to the head of the White House, “restrain” the country's global dominance. In this regard, the White House conducts an audit of all agreements concluded earlier.
“The Trump administration is making a mistake by undermining DON. The collective West will lose more from the liquidation of this treaty than Russia. Europe and the sane American military are extremely interested in having the legal opportunity to inspect our military facilities. If Trump nevertheless “closes the sky,” he risks seriously complicating relations not only with the Russian Federation, but also with the allies, ”Vinokurov concluded.